New 'After Earth' Website Launches a 'Project Next Generation' Viral

"Apply Now, Or Never Leave." I'll be completely honest, despite my disinterest in M. Night Shyamalan after The Last Airbender, I am considerably intrigued by his new film After Earth. Maybe it's the sci-fi future Earth story, maybe it's Will Smith and his son Jaden starring in it, maybe it's screenwriter Gary Whitta, maybe it was just all that impressive footage in the trailer. Something about the world and mystery of it fascinates me, but I'm also partial to sci-fi. And virals. Sony has launched a website for After Earth recently, and there's an interesting section called "Project Next Generation" that seemingly hints at a viral brewing.

After Earth has been getting extra viral attention because the studio is focusing on the background story and the many years between now and when the movie is supposed to take place (a future where we've left Earth abandoned to alien invaders). There's a "prequel story" being written by Peter David (read an excerpt on io9) but from the looks of it, Project Next Generation may fill in the gaps regarding how/why the human race left Earth to begin with, since all 7+ billion people couldn't fit in spaceships. Click these to visit the site:

The official Facebook page for After Earth, which is strangley where the "Apply Now" link takes you when clicking it, posted about Project Next Gen stating: "CITIZENS ALERT - To all those who have registered for Project Next Generation, Thank you. An update will be coming in the near future." That's about all there is so far until they actually do update this and launch the next phase of what seems like a much bigger sci-fi apocalypse viral, reminiscent of the 2012 "Institute for Human Continuity" viral back in 2009. Stay tuned.

1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime is mankind’s new home. General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai (Jaden Smith). When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the planet to recover their rescue beacon. M. Night Shyamalan directs After Earth wrote it with Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) and Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) and it hits theaters on June 7th, 2013.